The Ever-Changing Tide
by Silena the Hedgehog
Summary: The Chaotix as a team of eight suddenly finds themselves as a team of three. They must figure out how to work through their problems together and find a way to make a living for themselves. A story that transitions the Chaotix from the Comics to the Chaotix in the games.
1. Just a Day Like Any Other

The sun rose over Angel Island, lighting the trees with it's golden light. Flickies flew through the air, and the joyful laughter of Chao could be heard as morning came. But even though the Island was bathed in rays of pure sunshine, Knuckles woke up to a dark and dreary world. One without purpose or much meaning. He woke up, purple eyes dull and lifeless, and stared at the dawn. A bitter pain pierced his heart, and memories from the day before returned.

He got up and wandered around the Island, noticing with great agony how silent the place seemed to be. He was used to waking up to an Island full of noise; not of Chao or birds, but of people. Laughing, smiling, people that would greet Knuckles and ask him what they were going to do that day. But they were gone, and only their bittersweet memories remained.

He stopped by the Master Emerald, a gem that he once swore to protect no matter what. The green rock glowed bright as the sun hit it and reflected back around the area.

Yesterday….

He thought sadly, recalling the events that had destroyed him; the events that had pushed him past the breaking point. A glimmer caught his eye, as the sunlight hit a metal object. He looked down and saw a small piece of metal in the grass. He reached down and pulled out a gun. It was some sort of laser weapon. It was cracked along the side and still had bright red traces on the handle. Knuckles dropped it quickly, hoping it would get lost among the grass. But it still sat there in plain view, almost taunting him.

"You failed Knuckles. YOU FAILED."

it seemed to say. He bent down to pick it up again, but this time he chucked it with all his strength off the near-by ledge of Angel Island. He watched with grim satisfaction as it flew out of sight. Angrily, he kicked a near-by rock, cursing his life.

Why? Why? Why wasn't I fast enough, strong enough? Why couldn't it have happened to someone else? WHY?

He sat down in the grass and let a single tear run down his cheek. His anger and sadness mixed in the big boiling pot that was his mind. Life wasn't fair, and it had taken from him everything he had cared about. And now there was nothing left. Nothing.

YESTERDAY

The Chaotix awoke as usual that morning. The same sun that would taunt Knuckles tomorrow was shining now; seemingly it hinted that today was going to be a good day. Vector awoke in his bed, and looked around. His cluttered space was a disaster zone and eventually, he would need to clean it up before someone killed themselves. Sitting up in bed, he yawned.

Nah. It can wait until tomorrow. It's not like Sonic has to run through here. It's just me.

A crash from somewhere in the room sounded and Vector watched as a huge pile of folders fell from the rickety table they were on and fell to the floor. A voice out of nowhere spoke, in a serious and low tone.

"Vector, this place is a mess. When are you planning on cleaning any of it?"

A purple chameleon slowly came into view, covered in small paper cuts and scratches from the folders.

"When I get to it."

Vector replied, rolling his eyes. Count on Espio to make a negative remark about his place. The last time he was here, he complained of the smell. Now it was about all the stuff everywhere.

What's next? That I talk too weird?

Vector threw a paper wad at Espio.

"Shut up! You don't live in here! Why don't you go critique someone else's bedroom?"

Espio shrugged.

"Knuckles wants to see everyone for a morning meeting."

Vector sighed. Knuckles called waaaaaay too many meetings. Last week, they had five status report meetings that they could have lived without. It was like the fiery Echidna just wanted to make sure they were alive everyday. He got up and swung his golden chain around his neck and snapped his headphones on. There, he was ready to face the day.

Stretching, he followed Espio outside and to the meeting place. Vector had complained about the location of their meetings numerous times.

Right next to The Master Emerald…. Now THATS not obvious at all.

He thought sarcastically. The rest of The Chaotix, However had thought that being by the Master Emerald would keep the meeting place easily accessible, easy to remember, and easily guarded if something went wrong. Knuckles was already there as always. Looking around, Vector quickly noticed that none of the other Chaotix members were there yet.

"Thanks Esp."

He muttered darkly to himself.

"Could have waited a few minutes to get me; it takes YEARS to get everyone here on time."

Espio was already sitting down next to Knuckles and appeared not to have heard him.

A few minutes of awkward silence passed. Neither Knuckles or Espio were much of the Chit-Chat sort. Vector sighed and looked out over Angel Island. At the moment, the Island was floating over water. It was only a matter of time before they were over land again. A loud crash sounded from the forest behind him. In a large crowd; Mighty, Ray, Charmy, Saffron, and Julie-Su came out of the wooded area smiling and talking. They all filtered in and sat in their usual positions.

"Sorry Knux."

Mighty said grinning.

"We were Training."

Espio, sitting next to Vector, muttered something under his breath that only Vector could hear.

"Looks like it doesn't take years for everyone to show up."

Vector glared at him. Apparently, He HAD heard him. Knuckles stood up, with a look that said that he didn't want to have this particular meeting. He glanced at all of them and began.

"I'm going to be gone for a few hours."

He started, with the expression of someone who was told their house just burned down.

"Sonic needs my help, and I promised him I would. So I'm leaving Vector in charge and you all have to watch the Master Emerald while I go help that blue bastar… I mean blur."

Vector proudly held his head up. He appreciated Knuckles putting him as second in command. It really meant a lot to him. Across the way, Julie-Su sniffed in disapproval.

"You're leaving VECTOR in charge?! Are you TRYING to get us all killed?!"

She asked sarcastically, giving Vector the evil eye.

Vector glared right back at her.

"Better me than some run-away Legionnaire who sticks her gun where her mouth is half the time."

"EXCUSE ME?! I'm not the DOPE who keeps asking women out while on mission and would rather listen to music than help."

The rest of the Chaotix sat there, waiting for the argument to come to a close. Espio rolled his eyes and started meditating and Mighty was showing Ray how to do an Origami crane. Finally Knuckles pushed his way between them and screamed.

"ENOUGH!"

Vector shut his mouth firmly and looked at his leader.

"No arguments while I'm gone, you hear? I don't want to come back to find you two duking it out."

Julie-Su nodded and sat back down, crossing her legs. Vector stared at Knuckles for a while and realized that he DID NOT want to cross the angry Echidna. He sat down too, only to look over and find Espio staring at him with an amused expression.

"And what are you looking at?"

Espio turned his head back to Knuckles.

The red Echidna was picking up a back-pack. Julie-Su was talking to him in low quiet tones. Vector couldn't help himself and listened in.

"Knuckles, are you sure you should go? You did say that it was a stupid mission and that you didn't want to go."

Knuckles sighed quietly, looking down at the ground.

"I don't really. But if I help Sonic now, maybe the stupid hog will help us the next time WE need help."

Julie-Su smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We don't need Sonic, Knux. You have a team who would die for you and protect this place with everything they've got."

She replied.

"I guess…. but I already promised him I'd be there."

She rolled her eyes.

"Then go. I'll be waiting right here for when you get back. Don't suffer too much."

Knuckles smiled back at her, then looked at the rest of his team who were all pretending that they weren't listening in.

"Right. I'm off."

He said.

"Don't put a scratch on the Master Emerald."

He jumped off the edge of the Island, slowing gliding off toward distant land. Vector turned to face all of his teammates, only to find out that they all had already got up and were heading toward the Master Emerald Shrine.

"Hey guys, wait up!"

He yelled, jogging after them and holding on to his headphones so they wouldn't fall off. Espio paused and waited for him to catch up.

"Why'd you guys all leave so fast?"

Vector asked, trying to catch his breath. Espio began walking again, at a pace that Vector could mostly keep up with.

"We already knew where to go, Vector."

Espio said calmly.

"Just because you're in charge, doesn't mean we don't know what to do. Knuckles would want us surrounding the shrine and watching his Emerald. So that's what we're going to do."

Vector sighed in disgust.

"It's gonna be a long couple of hours then."

* * *

As it turns out, Vector wasn't wrong. The Chaotix were bored to tears by noon. Charmy was playing a game of tag with Saffron to pass the time.

"You can't catch me!"

He squealed happily, flying in circles above everyone's head. Saffron did her best to catch up to him but to no avail.

The young bee looked back and noticed how far back Saffron was. He purposely slowed down just a little bit so she could catch up and then took off for the near-by forest.

Espio sat below them and watched them zip around above him.

"Stay close by, Charmy."

He warned.

"Remember, our job is to watch the Emerald."

Beside him, Mighty was stretched out and relaxing.

"Oh, lighten up Espy."

He said cheerfully.

"Nothing's gonna happen. Knuckles is due back any minute now."

Charmy flew down next to Espio and smiled at him.

"The Armadillo is right! I'm just gonna play tag, Espio."

Espio shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

"Fine. But be careful.'

Charmy was gone before the chameleon had even finished the word "Fine". He streaked toward the trees where Saffron was already waiting.

"Can you be it now?"

She asked, panting heavily from having to chase Charmy everywhere. Charmy agreed and waited a few seconds while she got a head start. and then he took off, diving and ducking around trees. A slight sound to Charmy's left made him pause.

"Saffron, wait."

He called. She stopped and turned toward him.

"Listen."

They could both hear it now. The sound of something humming. Like a computer or something. Charmy didn't know what it was, but he wanted to go check it out. Saffron looked at him with wide eyes.

"Should we get Espio or something?"

Charmy shook his head.

"We're Chaotix members too. We should be able to check out a sound without having a million people here. besides, Espio would want to go alone, and we would never find out what's making the noise."

Doubtfully, Saffron nodded and Charmy led the way toward the sound. He would prove to Espio that he could be the best Chaotix member ever!


	2. Once there was Seven

**Hey guys! I'm very appreciate of all the reviews and moral support my stories get. it wouldn't be possible without you guys! Chapter Two is here and I promise you, it's a sad chapter. Enjoy! **

* * *

Boredom was settling in. Espio was getting tired of tossing the same Kunai up and down and attempting to catch it. Knuckles was much later than Espio would have estimated. He had figured that Knuckles would have only been gone for one, maybe two hours. Except that they had been sitting there for four hours and there was still no sign of their fearless leader.

Next to him, Mighty was staring off into space, yawning occasionally. The armadillo had his hands behind his back and was leaning against the base of the emerald. Espio looked around the area and noticed that Charmy and Saffron weren't back yet. Slightly worried, he stood up and quickly decided that he would check on them. Charmy was the type of person to get himself into trouble easily.

"They're fine, Espy."

Mighty said, noticing Espio's worry.

"Why would they come back if theres nothing going on? They're probably just playing around."

Espio thought about that statement. It was very possible that the duo had gotten bored of tag and were just doing other things, but Espio had a nagging suspicion that something was wrong.

"Maybe…."

He said quietly, thinking. If he left to go find them, there was a chance (but very slim) that something was going to happen and he wouldn't be there to help. But if he stayed here, there was a chance that they could be hurt.

"I'll give them ten more minutes. Then I'm going to search for them."

Mighty shrugged.

"Watch. They're gonna be perfectly fine."

Espio glared at him.

"And if it were Ray that had wandered off?"

Mighty sheepishly grinned at him.

"Okay, caught me. I would have gone to look for him."

Espio stared at the trees in the distance. Five minutes; and then he was going to search for them. He sat back down next to Mighty and waited patiently.

_Four minutes…._

_Three Minutes…_.

_Two….._

_One….._

A sudden high pitched scream pierced the air and echoed back to where the Chaotix were. Flickies flew quickly out of the trees they had been roosting in and took to the air. Espio was suddenly on high alert and leaped up again, pulling out a couple of his ninja stars. Mighty tensed up and looked behind him to make sure Ray was still standing there.

From the trees, a small bee flew out of the woods, slightly battered and covered in blood.

Espio ran as fast as he could toward the bee, which was Charmy. He ran into Espio's arms and burst into tears. In the woods that Charmy had just run out of, a million glowing lights lit up the forest. The rest of the Chaotix came up beside Espio. The glowing lights came closer and now the Chaotix could see what they were. A million of Eggman's robots stood there; some flying, and some on foot.

The team stared in horror at the sheer amount of metal badniks that stood before them. Espio Looked over Charmy and noticed that even though he was drenched in blood, there wasn't a scratch on him. With a sense of rising horror, Espio realized that Saffron hadn't come back. Charmy was shaking and would be no use to them in this fight.

"What are we gonna do?"

Julie-Su whispered, pulling out her laser weapon and loaded it. Vector glanced at the team and smiled grimly.

"Ready?"

The team nodded, and leaped into a battle for their lives.

* * *

Vector smacked one of the robots in the head and watched it spark and crash into three more around it. Vector happily grabbed another one and threw it straight up, almost laughing at the sight. Around him, the Chaotix were fighting fiercely. The rather large crocodile had been pleased to discover, when they shot into battle, that the robots weren't all that tough. They Were easily destroyed compared to some of Eggman's mechanical menaces. The only real problem, was that there were so many robots to deal with.

He tore off the flapper of one of the flying robots and chucked it at a robot attempting to fire a laser at him. He already had a pile of scrap metal around his feet. Looking around, Vector realized that the other members of the time were having an equally easy time as Espio used a katana to slice a robot in half and Mighty was just running around, slapping the robots hard enough to dent in their heads.

Julie-Su was a couple feet away from Vector and blasting away at many of the troublesome bots.

"Cleaning this is gonna be a pain."

She said, eyeing the growing pile of metal, wires, and spilt oil. Vector agreed. Knuckles would think he'd just come back into a disaster zone. It would take them all another six hours to clean the wreckage up.

Quickly, Julie-Su aimed her gun and shot a bright red laser inches away from Vector's face. Vector flinched in surprise and angrily glared at the pink Echidna.

"Watch where you shoot that thing, you maniac!"

Julie-Su smiled at him and pointed behind him. Vector turned and saw a robot, crumpled to the ground, just inches away from where he was standing. A laser hole was cut right through it's chest.

"Watch your back, Suitcase face."

She said, grinning. Vector grumbled at her and resumed beating the living daylights out of the robots around him. Within ten minutes, all of the robots were sparking and lying where they lay. The Chaotix looked around to see if there were any more. There wasn't.

"Well, that was fast."

Mighty said, and gave Ray a high-five. Espio still had Charmy with him, though Vector had no clue how the Chameleon had fought and held on the the young bee at the same time. He was the only member there who wasn't smiling. He looked downright miserable in fact. Vector wandered over to him.

"Is Charmy okay?"

He asked nervously, looking at the bee, who had his eyes closed and was laying in Espio's arms. Espio looked up at Vector and replied in a deadpan voice.

"This isn't his blood."

Vector stared at the dark red stains on Charmy's jacket in confusion.

"What?!"

The other members of the Chaotix were looking over now too.

"This isn't his blood Vector. He doesn't have a scratch on him."

"Then whose…."

But he already knew the answer. Glancing around, he counted his teammates. Only one was missing.

"Saffron didn't come back with Charmy."

Espio said, trying to wipe a tear from his eye before anyone noticed it.

"And Charmy said….. He said…. The robots surprised them and Saffron was shot before they had any time to react. She's…. she's…."

His voice broke and Espio didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to.

_Saffron's dead?!_

Vector thought to himself, in shock and horror.

_It was my responsibility. I was in charge. I should have kept better watch. I should have done something; anything. And now one of our team is dead._

The mood among the remaining Chaotix was somber as they waited for Knuckles to return. Julie-Su was in the distance, keeping herself busy by cleaning up the fighting area. She lifted hunks of metal and began to toss them into a pile. Espio was sitting back at the base of the master emerald, still holding Charmy and staring at nothing. Mighty and Ray were whispering amongst themselves, with sad expressions. Vector realized that he was just standing in one place. He decided to help Julie-Su, due to the fact that he needed to do some sort of work and no one else was helping her. he picked up a couple of pieces and threw them into the pile she'd already started.

For once, no words were exchanged between the two. They worked in silence and quickly moved over half the robots into the pile. Vector leaned over and picked up one of the robot's arms which had been torn off earlier by Mighty. He threw in into the pile, like the rest and watched as it hit the pile hard, landing right on top of a shattered robot. The robot hissed with sudden smoke and vector stared at it, not sure what the piece of junk was doing. He went toward it and pulled the broken robot off the pile and looked at it. The smoke was streaming from it now, and the robot's eyes were a dull glowing red.

"The heck?"

Vector said, chucking the robot back. Julie-Su came out of nowhere and shoved him to the ground.

"You idiot! It's gonna blow!"

She screamed at him right as the robot blew to pieces behind her. Shrapnel flew in all directions and Vector couldn't see. He heard Julie-Su hit hit the ground and he felt chunks of sharp, jagged steel scratch his face and tear at his flesh.

_How was I supposed to know it was a bomb?_

He thought to himself, his ears ringing. The acrid smoke was beginning to clear and Vector sat up slowly, almost losing his balance and falling back over. His left arm had long deep tears and blood was beginning to flow. vector didn't even want to know what his face looked like.

"Julie-Su?"

He asked, squinting and trying to peer through the thick smoke.

Mighty and Espio ran over, and tried to check on him. Vector ignored them, stood up carefully, and stumbled to where Julie-Su had last been standing. He found her within ten seconds, by almost tripping over her. She was lying in a pool of her own blood, barely breathing. Vector knelt next to her and tried to stop the bleeding. Her chest had been ravaged by shrapnel and multiple cuts looked fatal.

Julie-Su opened her eyes slowly and watched as Vector held his hands on her wounds.

"It's not gonna work, suitcase face. The cuts are too deep."

She smiled weakly and tried to push his hands away. Vector ignored her and still tried to help her.

"You are NOT going to die today."

Vector muttered to her. With a small sigh, she stopped fighting Vector and stared at him.

"Let me die, Vector. Just tell Knuckles I'm gonna miss him and that he better not get all screwed up over me."

She smiled again and then winced in pain. Vector tore off his gloves and held them against the bigger cuts. he looked up and noticed that Espio and Mighty were just standing there.

"Why are you just standing there?! Help her!"

He yelled at them. Mighty flinched back, but Espio didn't move.

"She's dying, Vector. There's nothing we can do."

Vector gritted his teeth and stared in anger at the Chameleon. Julie-Su slowly closed her eyes again, her breathing slower.

"Goodbye, Vector."

She said quietly, saying his name correctly for the first time. Her breath slowed down and came to a quiet halt. Vector stared in shock and then shook her, trying to get her to open her eyes, to do anything but lie there, in a pool of her blood. Bitter, angry tears streamed down his face as he wept.

Espio put his head down and turned away, still trying to cover up whatever emotions he had. Mighty openly cried, his blue eyes sparkling with salt water.

* * *

It was a very bad day for the Chaotix. And by fate, or by coincidence, it was then that Knuckles returned from whatever mission he had gone to for so long.


End file.
